When the storyline behind Star Trek: Discovery unfolds across its first season, long-time fans will no doubt notice that one of the franchise's cardinal rules is being broken.

Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry had a vision to foster harmony at the height of the Civil Rights movement in the late 1960s, and thus banned his writers from having Enterprise crew members feuding among themselves.

More than 50 years on, Star Trek: Discovery will set Roddenberry's guideline aside to tell a story of conflict within the crew of a Starfleet vessel.

"We're trying to do stories that are complicated, with characters with strong points of view and strong passions," producer Aaron Harberts told Entertainment Weekly.

"People have to make mistakes — mistakes are still going to be made in the future. We're still going to argue in the future."

Fellow producer Gretchen J. Berg chimed in: "The rules of Starfleet remain the same. But while we're human or alien in various ways, none of us are perfect."

This conflict-based storytelling was originally pitched by Bryan Fuller before he quit as Star Trek: Discovery showrunner, as was the decision to tell a serialised story rather than standalone episodes in the style of the original series.

It's been a big week for the upcoming show. Across the last few days, we learned that lead character Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) has a Vulcan connection and were given a preview of Jason Isaacs as a new Starfleet captain.

In the US, CBS will air the first Star Trek: Discovery episode on Sunday, September 24 before new episodes premiere on streaming platform CBS All Access. Netflix carries the show in the UK.